Police detail home-invasion robbery in Seattle

A police report released Monday details a home-invasion robbery last week on Martin Luther King Jr. Way South.

About 2:50 a.m. Wednesday, a man in the 3800 block was asleep on a living room couch when four men broke through his sliding-glass apartment door. The men were wearing sweat suits. Two had hats that partially covered their faces; the others has most of their faces covered with masks.

One of the men pointed a silver revolver at the victim’s mouth. They tied him with a cell phone charger wire and a leather belt, and also covered his face with a pillow.

About 20 minutes after they left, the man was able to untie himself and called 911. He was unable to tell police exactly what was taken.

“He told me they possibly took his cell phone, identification and $40 that were in his pants pocket on the floor near where he was sleeping,” officer Michael Shin wrote in his report. “He later told me that they took cameras, tape players and a laptop; however, he was unable to give any detail to what kind, make, model or description.”

Detailed suspect descriptions were not given, and police were not immediately able to find the men. The victim agreed to stay at a friend’s house that night.

From 2007 to 2008, police saw a 4 percent reduction citywide in what they classify as major crimes: murder, rapes, robbery, aggravated assaults, burglary, auto theft and larceny.

The bad news: Police also saw a 10 percent increase in burglaries, a 17 percent increase in aggravated assaults and a 25 percent increase in robberies.